Pages

How can I miss someone that I have never met? It's weird. Funny, even. Yet that is how I am feeling.

But, he has gone. and there was nothing that could have been done.

This hurts more than when David Bowie left us. More than Alan Rickman. More than John Hurt. More than Carrie Fisher.

I saw him perform 18 days ago? 2 weeks and 4 days. He was at my hometown of Greenwich, performing on the fourth tour to make it as far as the o2. My third time of ever seeing them perform. Spirits high that it wouldn't be the last. And now it is. It really, really is the end.

I have this one really clear memory, not a memory with coherent action but just a collection of images and sensations of a first memory. My mum's old bedroom, purple and blue walls, double bed that reached side to side and this big stereo. Somehow it fit in the room, this big old stereo that still had a place to put in tapes, speakers that made the base hit you in the right in the gut and the chorus of Crawling filling the whole house. The "crawling sofa" song, as four-year-old me had called it. Unknowing of how Linkin Park, and Chester Bennington would go on to shape me as a person.

I don't remember a time before where I did not know the lyrics to the song. To any and all Linkin Park songs.

Linkin Park were my first concert. January 2008. I was just 9-years-old. I remember this big white sheet had been put across the stage, their silhouettes coming through as the building rise music kept building tension- BAM- the sheet fell and the big bellowing of guitar, drums and bass kicked ass. It was fucking AMAZING!

When the 7-8-9 year olds in my classes were learning High School Musical lyrics I was singing Linkin Park lyrics. When I felt soul-crushing loneliness as a teen, I would find solace in his words. Tracing the Linkin Park logo over and over and over again on my Maths books, tracing it on the back of my GCSE Art books.

When I need to be angry, he was with me. When I was happy, he was with me. When I was melancholy, he was with me. Never in person, but in spirit. In the power of his lyrics, the power of his voice. And now- that is all we are left with. His soul encapture in words that so many others are unable to find. He was our voice.

Chester Bennington, a vocalist that has help define a generation of music. He touched thousand of hearts, minds and souls with the lyrics co-written with band member Mike Shinoda.

Rest in Peace, sweet, sweet Chester. For another light has been lost. And we have noticed. And the world is already that bit darker.

Torchwood: World Without End v.1 (Torchwood Comics)Writers: John Barrowman, Carol BarrowmanArtist: Antonio Fuso⭐Find on Goodreads

Synopsis:The members of the Torchwood Institute, a secret organization founded by the British Crown, fight to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial and supernatural threats.ReviewThe Cover
I really love the cover choice for the bind up. The hues of orange and blues are just simply glorious. Although, ir speaks more military than aliens. No?To be fair, that is what RTD did turn Torchwood into by the end of the fourth series.The Content
Where do I ever begin?I feel like I say that everytime I've made passing at this one, but this might just be the biggest disappointment of 2017 and I fear a rant is going to follow. So, I'll keep it brief.I'm not quite sure who's idea it was to make this a bind-up issue at only four volumes, but already we are lacking story content. Comic book bind-ups, that I usually read, are five? Six? volumes long. And you could tell this fell too short. Both the pacing between each panel and the dialogue were off. I thought it was just me, but since I finished reading, I've gone on to read countless peoples commenting on having to flip back through pages thinking that they had missed a few panels, because they didn't have a clue at what was going on. My brain couldn't even fill in the gaps? Did it include aliens? Yes. Which says a lot considering the last series of Torchwood. Which didn't use anything alien in origin, like seriously? But, I have no clue as to how they were central to the plot... if there was even any plot. It just felt like Jack and Gwen were reunited, BAM!, ending. It just needed more. Either more issues and the plot really thorough out or perhaps, if they were to collaborate to produce a graphic novel. I am complaining about this a lot, but the characterisation of Gwen, Rhys and Jack was spot on when they did say something. And I did really like some of the art. There were a few full page illustrations with a very loose pen style that I thought were lovely. I say lovely, they were at all the big explosion parts.

Haven't really got a set TBR this quarter. So, I'll stick to one or two books a month that I really want to get to over the next three months, as well as the plenty of books that I've started and need to get finished. Currently Reading

I've been craving this book for so long, but always when I come back home to London and leave my copy back at Uni- like the true idiot I am.

I'm too scared that I won't love it because I will always keep comparing with the similar premise that Nevernight had.

Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy #1)Robin HobbFind on GoodreadsA reread. I have hit that part where I don't remember anything that really happened in book one to continue onto the second book.So a reread is due.

August

Royal Assassin (Farseer Trilogy #2)Robin HobbFind on GoodreadsBook 2. My goal is to complete the Farseer trilogy by then end of this year.... at the latest.

FreeksAmanda Hocking⭐⭐Find on GoodreadsSynopsis:Welcome to Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow, where necromancy, magical visions, and pyrokinesis are more than just part of the act…

Mara has always longed for a normal life in a normal town where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future. Instead, she roams from place to place, cleaning the tiger cage while her friends perform supernatural feats every night.

When the struggling sideshow is miraculously offered the money they need if they set up camp in Caudry, Louisiana, Mara meets local-boy Gabe…and a normal life has never been more appealing.

But before long, performers begin disappearing and bodes are found mauled by an invisible beast. Mara realizes that there’s a sinister presence lurking in the town with its sights set on getting rid of the sideshow freeks. In order to unravel the truth before the attacker kills everyone Mara holds dear, she has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she was capable of—one that could change her future forever.Review:The Cover:There seems to be a theme. If the book involves a carnival or a circus, the cover artist must always use the same colour palette- black, white and red. Always bringing it back to The Night Circus (by Erin Morgenstern), so an expectation is already being built and one thar never seems to be met. Please stop. Use other colours. There's a whole other spectrum!!I guess you can tell that this cover didn't wow me. And still doesn't. It's very 2012 YA- girl in a dress. And now can't help but think of a young Theresa May running through a field of wheat- so there's that. Although I do quite like the typography used for the title. The Content:This is my third attempt at reading a book by Amanda Hocking and probably the last one, I think. They're quick reads, but they just leave me bored and unsatisfied. I have this thing where I will call something "old YA"; I can't make a definitive definition of what I mean by this other than: a book that no longer pushes the boundaries of writing, relies on tropes and basic character archetypes in order to repeat a story. I found the writing simplistic (which isn't a bad thing mind, it was accessible). The thing is, the character where tropey, nor were they built upon leaving them as 2-D and flat. That sounds more harsh than what I mean it to be, but I was just left with a bad taste of insta-romance and shadows, rather than character's who were fully fleshed out.

Townies and Carnies? This just pissed me off. It's like Travelers and Gorgers. Prejudice and ridiculous. It just wasn't needed. Another part of the book that just didn't gel with me. I did really like the time era this was set in- the 80's! The small tidbits of pop culture references, the lack of a mobile phone, retro cars. Although I did question whether you could say the book was set in the 90's or early 00's and it still be applicable? Either way, it was the one thing that I did like about the book.

Profile Image

/>

About Me

ACityofBooks was established in 2016 in order for me to connect and share my passion for reading. I hope my love for all things fantasy shines through every floral note, but I do like to delve into various other genres. Mixing reading to portray both my adult and young adult qualities.